Confronting the past
by Looneyman
Summary: UPDATED! My first Sonic Fic. The first of Knuckles' tribe returns, but their reunion is cut short when Eggman attacks the island and steals the Master Emerald. Rating may go up. Knuckles and Tikal
1. Thinking back

(A/N: I had this idea while I was playing Sonic Adventure DX Directors cut for the Gamecube. Although I've been a fan fro a while, this is my first Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfic. It's mainly Knuckles' story so Knuckles fans should like it. It takes place after Sonic Heroes. The first chapter will be short as it's a prologue.)

Disclaimer: Sonic the hedgehog and all related characters belong to Sega and Sonic Team and are copyrighted by them. I have no profit motive for writing this; I'm just a fan. I do own a couple of the characters that appear.

**Thinking back **

"_As far back as I can remember, I've been living alone on this island, miles above the ocean surface. Defending the Master Emerald from danger and waiting for my people to return to me. I don't know why this task has been placed upon me, whether it was a mission, an accident or a curse, but I know that one day, my people will return someday. I only wish that I will be alive when that day comes. Since I've brought the Chaos Emeralds back with me, life has been no different, harder if anything. I observe the skies to see if anything that could harm the Master Emerald approaches._"

* * *

Knuckles pondered these lines as he sat at the altar where the Master Emerald stood. The Chaos Emeralds lined the outside of the Master Emerald. Much to his surprise, Dr. Eggman hadn't come after the Emeralds in some insane plot to take over the planet. Knuckles was unsure of the reason of this, perhaps it was because Eggman had learned his lesson, although this was unlikely. Possibly it was because he was plotting again, this was the most likely. Knuckles continued to watch the skies around his island. The most he saw was a bird flying near the island. Things had been quiet since Eggman's most recent defeat. Knuckles thought back to his previous battles to protect the Master Emerald. The one that stuck in his mind the most was that time when Chaos was released 2 years ago. It wasn't because of Chaos that made this incident stick out; it was because of Tikal, the first of Knuckles' tribe to return, even if it was only to stop Chaos. He often found himself wishing that she would come back. He was unsure of why Tikal had left after Chaos had been calmed. He suspected it was because she felt she was no longer needed. He then thought back to the times when Tikal had taken him into the past. He realised that Tikal was the first of the tribe who wanted to reach peace without invading others. Knuckles sighed and looked up to the sky. He figured that she'd never come back, no matter how much he wanted her too. As he sat down, he heard an engine nearby. He stood up and looked around to try and find the source of the sound. He eventually saw Tails flying the Tornado 2. He flew past the island without landing to visit so Knuckles assumed he was on a test flight.

"False alarm." Knuckles muttered to himself. He sat back down in front of the Master Emerald and turned to look at it. He admired the sight of the large green Emerald sitting in its place spinning as it always did. In many ways, it was hypnotic, watching the Emerald spin constantly. There were times when Knuckles would feel sleepy from watching the Emerald spin all day. As he watched the Emerald spin, he heard a sound coming from the island.

* * *

"What was that? It sounded like an impact." Knuckles said to himself. Without a second thought, he started running around the island. He eventually came across a crater on the island. In the crater was a small meteorite, about 1½ yards in diameter. On closer inspection, he saw that the meteorite was a perfect globe shape and it seemed to be divided in half around the cirumference.

"This is strange, why wasn't the island damaged?" Knuckles asked. He ran back to the altar and Checked on the Master Emerald. It was undamaged by the impact. Knuckles then returned to the meteorite. When he got there he sensed an energy coming from within the meteorite.

"This is very strange." Knuckles muttered. He jumped down to the meteorite and tapped it. It wasn't made of rock, but of a substance he'd never come across before. He felt the division and found a small gap between the two halves of the Meteorite. He tried to prize it open but it wouldn't budge.

"I think there's something inside this, if only I could open it." Knuckles said in frustration. After he said this, steam came flowing out of the meteorite and it slowly began to open. Knuckles leapt back out of instinct and prepared to attack whatever came out.

"If you intend harm, I want you off my island!" Knuckles shouted. He heard a voice from inside the meteorite.

"Please, I mean no harm Knuckles." The voice said. The voice sounded feminine and the tone was full of peace. It was also a voice that was familiar to Knuckles, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"How do you know my name?" Knuckles asked. The meteorite was now fully open but Knuckles kept his distance.

"We've met before, I believe about 2 years ago." The voice replied. Knuckles' felt his heart skip a beat. He watched as a female Echidna stood up. She was wearing a white and green skirt with a top of the design of the ancients. She was mostly orange except for a white stripe around her neck. Knuckles recognised the female figure that stood before him.

"I-it can't be!" Knuckles exclaimed in shock. He had another look at the figure that stood before him.

"Tikal?" Knuckles asked.

(A/N: Sorry if that was a little short for me. I was trying to set the scene for Tikal's return, and give some background information. Hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review. To Nightw2 and PurpleCobra247, I had this first part ready for a while and thought I'd post it now, that's why I've done two posts in one day.)


	2. Why the return?

REVIEW RESPONSE

PurpleCobra247: Thanks for the confidence boost. Hope it turns out ok for everyone. Glad you like it.

Nightw2: I have the same problem. I like Mario but hardly ever read Mario fics due to laziness. Isn't author alert a wonderful thing? Anyway, I'll work hard on this. Please enjoy it.

Sonicron: No offence, but I can't improve of you don't know what my description needs. It was probably the short chapter that did it, I know I have that problem. I tried to keep to Knuckles' character when I wrote that chapter. I'll try and keep him in character as much as possible.

Burner the Echidna: Glad you like it. I always enjoy a positive review.

Sorry for the delay in this story

**Why the return?**

Tikal stepped out of the meteorite and looked at her surroundings. Not much had changed over the two years since she was freed from the Master Emerald with Chaos. She looked at Knuckles, who had now lowered his fist and had stepped backwards. Tikal took a step towards Knuckles.

"Yes Knuckles, I have returned." Tikal said. Knuckles was taken aback by what she had said.

"What do you mean by that?" Knuckles asked.

"You have been waiting for your people to return for years haven't you?" Tikal asked. Knuckles hesitated.

"Well, yes, I have." Knuckles replied.

"Well, I'm the first to return." Tikal said. Knuckles was shocked.

"You're going to stay here?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes." Tikal replied.

"But I thought you ascended to the heavens with chaos." Knuckles said. They were interrupted by the sound of an engine.

"Someone's coming." Tikal said. Knuckles had already run up to the altar to get a better look. Noticing this, Tikal followed. They saw the Tornado 2 heading towards the island.

"What's Sonic coming here for?" Knuckles asked himself. He started running down to where the Tornado 2 was about to land. Tikal stayed with the Master Emerald. When he reached the site, the Tornado 2 landed right next to him and Sonic jumped off the wing.

"Hey guys." Knuckles greeted.

"Hey there Knuckles." Sonic replied, giving a thumbs up gesture.

"What are you two doing here?" Knuckles asked.

"We saw something crash into the island and came here wondering what it was." Tails replied, climbing out of the cockpit.

"Yeah, what was that ball of fire?" Sonic asked.

"A meteorite. It didn't do any damage." Knuckles replied.

"That's good. We thought it was some kind of missile." Tails said.

"But come and see who was in the meteorite." Knuckles added, running back to the altar.

"Did he say who?" Sonic asked.

"Who could travel in a meteorite?" Tails asked. They both followed Knuckles to the altar. When they reached the altar, they screeched to a halt when they saw Tikal standing with the Master Emerald.

* * *

"Tikal!" Sonic said in amazement.

"It's nice to see you again." Tikal greeted.

"What are you doing back here?" Tails asked.

"I'm simply returning to Knuckles. He was waiting for his tribe to return." Tikal replied.

"Does that imply that others will return?" Tails asked.

"I don't know for certain." Tikal replied.

"I hope they do." Knuckles muttered.

"Well, you're no longer alone now." Sonic said.

"I know, but I still need to protect the Master Emerald." Knuckles replied.

"Sonic, we'd better get going." Tails said.

"I am nervous about leaving those two alone." Sonic replied with a laugh. Knuckles looked offended, Tikal laughed and Tails looked confused.

"What does that mean!" Knuckles shouted. He lunged at Sonic

"Hey, calm down Knuckles." Sonic replied, leaping out of the way of Knuckles' punch. Knuckles ended up punching the ground, creating a crater as big as he was.

"What do you mean by that remark?" Tails asked. Tikal walked over to him.

"It'd be better if you didn't know." Tikal said to Tails. She then went over to Knuckles and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You calm down, Sonic was only joking." Tikal said sternly. Knuckles took a deep breath and glared at Sonic.

"No more jokes like that again." Knuckles said to Sonic.

"No problem Knuckles." Sonic replied.

"Come on Sonic, let's go." Tails shouted.

"I'm coming." Sonic replied. He ran over to the Tornado 2 and jumped on the wing. Tails climbed into the Cockpit.

"See you some other time." Tails said as he started up the engine of the Tornado 2.

"Fly safely." Tikal called out. Tails looked slightly offended but let it slide.

"Come on Tails, you said you wanted to show me something." Sonic said.

"Oh yeah, it's at my workshop." Tails replied. He turned to Tikal.

"See you later." Tails said to Tikal.

"Welcome back." Sonic added.

"Bye." Tikal replied. The Tornado 2 flew off the island and went off into the distance.

* * *

After a while the Tornado 2 had arrived at Tails' workshop in the Mystic Ruins. Tails landed the plane on the landing strip and steered the plane into the hangar. The hangar was cluttered with boxes of electrical devices and other gadgets that Tails made in his spare time. There was also a desk with several blueprints and a bookcase stacked with engineering books. Tails climbed out of the cockpit of the plane and walked to a door in the corner. Sonic jumped off the wing and followed him. Tails then pushed a button next to the door and it opened to reveal an elevator.

"So, where's this thing you wanted to show me?" Sonic asked as he stepped into the elevator.

"It's in the basement. I think you'll like it." Tails replied, pushing a button to make the elevator go down.

"Is it a new transport vehicle or something?" Sonic asked.

"Yep. A few days ago, I realised that Eggman may get wise to us and build a base under the sea." Tails replied.

"So…?" Sonic asked. The elevator reached the basement and the door opened.

"I've built a submarine." Tails replied, pointing to a blue submarine in the water. The sub was twice as big as the Tornado 2 and had the same design. There were hatches on the side and an opening on the top. Sonic was very impressed.

"Wow, nice job Tails." Sonic remarked.

"Thanks." Tails replied with a nervous laugh. Sonic jumped on top of the sub.

"You going to show me the interior?" Sonic asked. Tails climbed up on top of the sub with Sonic.

"Of course." Tails replied. He opened the hatch and climbed inside the sub. Sonic followed him and looked in awe at the sight. The sub was like one giant computer with electronic viewing screens, radar and a control area. There was also a living quarters with a sofa, refrigerator and Television.

"Wow, you did a good job." Sonic remarked.

"The sub is also equipped with homing torpedoes, but we only have a limited supply." Tails said.

"How many can it carry?" Sonic asked.

"About a dozen at a time." Tails replied.

"And how far underwater can we go?" Sonic asked.

"This sub can go down to the bottom of the deepest ocean." Tails replied.

"Now Eggman will have nowhere to hide." Sonic said.

"Any other questions?" Tails asked.

"Just one, do you have a name for this sub yet?" Sonic asked.

"Yep, I call it the Tsunami." Tails replied.

(A/N: Again, sorry that the chapter is short and sorry for the delay. The chapters will get bigger when Eggman attacks, which won't be much longer. Anyway, this will be my last upload for a while as I'm working on two stories at once and I have to pack up to head home as I'm finally finishing at my boarding college Jumps for joy. I'll update as soon as I can.)


	3. Attack

REVIEW RESPONSE

Burner the Echidna: Thanks, I'll try and keep it so it continues to get better. Tell me how I do.

Nightw2: That last chapter was meant to be informative. The chapters should be getting longer now. I apologize for short chapters because I know some people don't like short chapters.

Sonicron: I think descriptions are my weak point when it comes to writing. Thanks for the pointers. As for updating, it depends on how fast I can do it for my other stories. Glad you like this one.

Whinnie: Glad you like the pairing. I chose Knuckles and Tikal because I find interspecies relationships a tad odd. It just leads to difficulties, especially regarding what the children would look like. (Knuckles/Rouge, an Echidna with bat wings? Weird!). I accept the Sonic/Sally pairing though. I'll update as fast as I can.

On that subject, sorry for this delay, trying to work on more than one story is difficult.

**Attack**

Back on Angel Island, Knuckles sat back in front of the Master Emerald. Now that Tikal had returned, things were going to change dramatically, although he was unsure how. His head was filled with different emotions, mostly joy about the return, but also surprise. He seemed convinced that none of his people will return, and Tikal's return came out of the blue. There was also the matter of Chaos, why didn't he return as well? He must have had his reasons for not coming back. He couldn't help but think about Tikal's return, was there a secret reason as to why she came back? Maybe she… as soon as this thought went thorugh his mind, Knuckles slapped himself.

"Grrr, why am I thinking like this?" Knuckles asked himself in frustration. Tikal was standing on the edge of the island looking out at the sky. She thought back to where she was before coming back, up in the heavens with Chaos. Effectively, she was a goddess but she didn't like the idea. She said it was too much of a responsibility. She looked down on the battles between Soinc and Eggman and observed how helpful Knuckles had been. She had seen into his heart and knew that he longed for someone to return. She made arrangements for Chaos to assume her role as well as his, making him the god of balance. She then returned to Angel island for the purpose of being by Knuckles. She also cared about the planet and wanted to help protect it. And, although she never said this, she felt something for Knuckles, though she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked over to Knuckles who had quelled his thoughts and had fallen asleep. Tikal walked over to him and admired him sleeping in front of the Master Emerald. She did not know how he could sleep while sitting but it didn't matter. Looking around, Tikal saw a patch of grass that was thicker than the rest of the grass. She tried lying down on it and found it quite comfortable. Within a few minutes she was asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Sonic was having a morning run around the forest. All seemed quiet at the moment, though he didn't take much notice as he was moving so fast. As he was running, his thoughts turned back to Tikal. He had always hoped that someone would return to Knuckles, though he felt a little guilty about the remark he'd made. After all, she'd only just returned. In truth, he was happy for Knuckles. All he wanted was for his friends to be happy. Amy proved to be difficult though. He saw her as a friend even though she was extremely irritating. Thinking of Amy reminded him of his origional love, Sally Acorn. She had disappeared a few years back and hadn't been seen since. He still had feelings for her. He always ran through the forest though he wasn't sure why, perhaps he hoped to find her someday. As he was running he passed the lake which he usually passed. He stopped at the lake and went up to it. It was here that He and Sally had revealed their feelings for each other.

* * *

_Flashback_

It had been a month since Robotnik's last defeat. Once again the mad scientist had escaped but now mobius was free from his rule and Sally's mother took her rightful place as queen. Sally had gone out for a walk and had invited Sonic to join her. Along the way, they passed the lake. The sun was setting and the reflection was in the water. The lake was surrounded by flowers of different kinds. Sally was awestruck by the beauty. They went up to the lake and sat at the waters' edge.

"Beautiful place isn't it?" Sally said.

"It was your idea to come here." Sonic pointed out. Sally just laughed and looked at the sun.

"Well, at least Dr. Robotnik is gone." Sally said.

"Sally, I've just come up for a new name for that creep should he show his face again." Sonic said.

"Really, what?" Sally asked.

"I came up with the name Eggman." Sonic replied.

"Fitting." Sally remarked. She then noticed Sonic looking very quiet.

"Are you ok?" Sally asked. Sonic turned and looked at her.

"I'm fine." Sonic replied. Sally saw right through this lie and glared at him.

"Soinc, something is on your mind. Can you tell me what it is?" Sally asked. Sonic took a deep breath and looked at Sally.

"Sally, I've known you for so many years but I haven't revealed my true feelings for you yet." Sonic said. He blushed as he said this.

"What does that mean?" Sally asked. Sonic hesitated in his reply.

"Sally, I… I… I… love you." Sonic finally said. Sally blushed and smiled.

"And how long have you been keeping that a secret from me?" Sally asked, flirting a little.

"Since I first met you." Sonic replied, blushing even more. Sally moved closer to Sonic.

"You knopw, I've been keeping a secret from you as well." Sally said.

"Which is?" Sonic asked. Sally took a deep breath.

"I…love you too." Sally replied. Sonic's heart skipped a beat. He dind't think Sally loved him back. Sally placed her hand on Soinc's cheek.

"Our little secret." Sally whispered into Sonic's ear before they kissed.

_End Flashback_

* * *

"The lake's as beautiful now as it was then." Sonic muttered. This flashback made him miss Sally a lot more. She was last seen walking through the forest Sonic was in now. He once debated the idea that Eggman had captured her but passed it off as he had never seen her whenever her aided any of Eggman's bases and she wasn't in any of his robots that had been destroyed. But now he thought about it, there was one of Eggman's robots from that period that was still active, Metal Sonic.

"I wonder if…" Sonic began to think to himself. His thought pattern was interrupted by a girl's voice.

"Hey Soinc!" The voice called. Soinc turned around to see who it was, it was Amy.

"Amy! What are you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"I can go wherever I want, it's a free planet after all." Amy replied.

"That's…not what I meant." Soinc said nervously.

"Either way, I'm just going to tag along with you now." Amy added. Soinc gulped.

"NO WAY!" Soninc shouted. With that, he ran away from the forest as fast as he could. Amy just stood at the lake looking at the escaping Soinc.

"Sonic, you meanie. I can't keep up with you." Amy shouted. She started running after Sonic.

* * *

Back on Angel Island, Knuckles awoke when he heard birds chirping around him. The first thing he did was look at the Master Emerald to check it was ok. It was still there, and so were the 7 chaos emeralds around the base. Satsfied, he went down the steps to the grond to find Tikal. She was still sleeping on the patch of grass. Knuckles admired her sleeping on the grass. There were no buildings on the island so she obviously had to make do. Knuckles felt a little sorry for her as it was quite a change for her, even though he was not aware of what her life was like when she was a goddess. He looked at Tikal for a few minutes before coming to his senses. For one thing, she'd get worried if she woke up to him staring at her. Secondly, he was hungry. He walked off into the forest on the island and began gathering some food. Tikal woke up while he was gone. She looked around but couldn't see Knuckles anywhere. She got a little worried at first but then realised that he'd be ok on his own, he'd spend most of his life alone anyway. She stood up and went to the Master Emerald. Looking at it reminded her of the times with Chaos. Up until her afther attacked, he was a caring gentle creature who only attacked if the chao around the area were hurt in anyway. Tikal was the only person that Chaos ever trusted. So when her father attacked the shrine and injured buth her and the chao, Chaos lost his temper. He used the Chaos Emeralds to assume his perfect form and take revenge. If Tikal hadn't sealed him away, the world would have been completely destroyed. While she was thinking about this, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Knuckles holding a variety of fruits and berries.

"Sleep ok?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes, thank you." Tikal replied. Knuckles sat down and spread the food he'd gathered out on the ground.

"Want something to eat?" Knuckles asked. Tikal looked at the variety of food that Knuckles had come back with. He had taken a selection of all the different kinds of fruit on the island. After scanning the fruit, Tikal picked up some cherries.

"Thank you." Tikal said as she took the cherries. Knuckles picked up a melon and they began eating. Once they had finished eating, there were only a few pieces of fruit left, which Knuckles threw back into the forest.

"Why do you throw uneaten food into the forest?" Tikal asked.

"It gives the earthworms something to eat." Knuckles replied. Tikal then heard what sounded like an engine. Itt sounded like it was coming to the island.

"Is that an engine?" Tikal asked. Knuckles stood up and had a look around. He saw a large battleship heading towards the island. The front was of a drill like structure and the whole ship was coloured red, gold and purple. The ship was also armed with cannons on all sides of the ship. There was also an emblem on the side, one that Knuckles recognised.

"It's Eggman!" Knuckles said.

"Eggman? I've seen what he's done, but why is he coming here?" Tikal asked.

"I'll bet he's after the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles replied. The cruiser flew over the island and deployed fighter robots.

"I'll handle this, you get to the Master Emerald." Knuckles instructed.

"Right." Tikal replied. She ran up to the Master Emerald and watched Knuckles fight off the robots. Each one broke into pieces with just one punch. However more robots kept appearing whenever Knuckles destroyed one. Suddenly, a group of tougher robots came and surrounded Knuckles. He fought bravely but was overwhelmed by the numbers. Seeing this, Tikal grew anxious. She wanted to help but she was not sure what to do. She looked back at the battle cruiser and saw the Eggmobile coming down towards where Knuckles lay.

"I must say you put up a brave fight, but now those Chaos Emeralds are mine!" Eggman said evilly. He turned towards the Master Emerald and went over to it, only to be blocked by Tikal. She formed a barrier with her own body, like she did when trying to stop her father. In fact, this was bringing back horrible memories of that incident.

"Who are you?" Eggman asked.

"That doesn't mater, leave this island now!" Tikal shouted.

"Such courage for such a girl." Eggman commented. Knuckles woke up and saw what was going on. He tried to get up but was too wounded.

"But I won't leave until I have what I came for!" Eggman shouted.

"Greed is our greatest enemy." Tikal said calmly.

"What does that mean?" Eggman asked.

"Once greed has started within you nothing will be enough to satisfy it." Tikal replied.

"I still don't quite get it, but I don't care!" Egggman shouted. He used a grabbing arm to grab the Chaos Emeralds.

"HAHAHA! With these, I will be able to create my greatest weapon." Eggman shouted. Tikal turned to the Master Emerald.

"The servers are the 7 chaos…" Tikal began. Eggman realised what she was going to do.

"Oh no you don't!" Eggman shouted. He fired a beam at the Master Emerald and shattered it to pieces. Knuckles had managed to stand up and saw Eggman destroy the Master Emerald.

"EGGMAN! I'll get you for that!" Knuckles shouted. He ran up the stairs to the altar and confronted Eggman.

"I'l love to stay and play but I have other plans, ta-ta." Eggman said sarcastically. He returned to the battle ship in the Eggmobile and fled.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked.

"I'm fine, but we're all in danger." Knuckles replied. The ground started shaking.

"What now?" Tikal asked.

"Without the power of the Master Emerald, this island will plumit into the ocean. Brace yourself!" Knuckles replied. Tikal nodded and braced herself. Angel Island fell to the surface and crashed into the sea. The impact created a tidal wave that headed towards the main land.

(A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. I'm working on more than one story and it's a little difficult. Read and review for now please.)


	4. Chaos hunt

REVIEW RESPONSE

Burner the Echidna: Thanks. A chapter of perfect length isn't easy to write, especially when people's idea of perfect length is different for each person. On average, I try and have about 2,000 words a chapter.

Nightw2: Glad you like the Drama. Tikal has only appeared in one Sonic game (2 if you count the fact that she was a multi player character for SA2B) so doing her character well is difficult. Glad you like the drama.

PurpleCobra247: Yep, a little action can go a long way. There will be more action later, wait and see the finale I have planned. I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a incredible action point. Glad you like it.

acosta pérez josé ramiro: Wow, no offense, but I didn't expect you to review. Glad you like this story. I've been a Sonic Fan since the Genesis/Mega Drive (Depending on where your from). Nice comparison between Sonic and Knuckles. I'm guessing you're not sure who Tikal is. She is a female Echidna from Knuckles' tribe. She objected to her father's greed, which eventually led to a catastrophe in her world. She was able to save the world but ended up as like a goddess.

I am extremely sorry for the severe delay in update this. I have several other stories to do, as Nightw2 and PurpleCobra247 will testify. Please don't kill me (Hides in a bunker).

**Chaos Hunt**

Sonic had lost Amy and had run back to Tails' workshop There wasn't much happening at the moment. Tails was at the computer while Sonic was sitting on the roof looking for any sign of trougble. He liad back and admired the morning sun burning down. There was a light breeze in the air, taking a few leaves with it. He started to feel a little dozy. He shut his eyes and was about to doze off when the alarm in the workshop sounded, making Sonic jump out of his skin.

"WOAH!" Sonic yelped. The sudden wake up call caused him to fall to the ground. He quickly recovered and went inside the workshop. Inside, all the computers were showing an alert screen and a red alarm light was flashing on and off.

"Tails, what's going on?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic, Angel Island is falling." Tails replied.

"Again!"

"Again. There's going to be a Tidal wave here any minute."

"Will the workshop be ok?"

"It will be, but we need to find out what happened." Tails opened the hangar where the Tornado 2 was waiting.

"I bet Eggman has something to do with this."

"We'll have to ask Knuckles and Tikal what happened." Soinc jumped onto the tail of the plane while Tails climbed into the cockpit.

"Runway clear, Tornado 2 ready for takeoff!" Tails shouted. The hangar opened and the tornado 2 took off and flew towards Angel Island. Along the way, they saw the Tidal wave created by the falling Angel Island. The wave crashed into the cliffs under the worrkshop and did liittle damage. However, a different cliff crumbled under the intense force.

"Thank goodness that Tidal wave wasn't any bigger." Tails mttered.

"No time to think, we need to get to Angel Island." Sonic shouted.

"Right." Tails piloted the plane towards Angel Island.

* * *

They found Angel Island in the middle of the ocean. Knuckles was standing in front of the ruined Master Emerald, clutching his fist in rage. Tikal was on all fours, struggling to stand up after the impact. She was also emotionally shocked at what had jus happened. Eggman had just stolen the Chaos Emeralds and shattered the Master Emerald. It was just as bad as what her father had done thousands of years previously. Tails landed the Tornado 2 on a clearing a few metres away from the altar, causing Knuckles to look over his shoulder at them. Soniic jumped off the pland and ran over to Knuckles. Tails climbed out of the cockpit and went over to Tikal.

"Knuckles, what happened here?" Sonic asked.

"Eggman, he shattered the Master Emerald and stole the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles replied.

"WHAT!"

"Eggman has the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald is n pieces." Tails was helping Tikal to her feet. She stood up and dusted herself off.

"Are you ok?" Tails asked.

"I'm shocked. Eggman is just like my father." Tikal replied.

"Eggman attacked?"

"Yes, he shattered the Master Emerald."

"Did he take the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Every last one." Knuckles replied. He and Sonic had come down from where the Master Emerald once stood

"Not true, I was able to save one of them." Tikal replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the green Chais Emerald. Everyone gasped at the sight, although Tails showed a look of gratitude.

"Great. With this, we can find Eggman." Tails exclaimed.

"How?" Tikal asked.

"The Chaos Emeralds can attract each other. I can use that ability to detect a signal from the other Emeralds and Locate Eggman."

But what does Eggman want with the Chaos Emeralds?" Tikal hesitantly gave Tails the Chaos Emerald as she said this.

"No doubt some twisted plan on world domination." Sonic replied.

"Sonic, we have to find Eggman." Tails shouted.

"Right." Sonic and Tails started running towards the Tornado 2.

"You guys go ahead." Knuckles shouted.

"Where are you going?" Tails asked.

"I need to find the fragments of the Master Emerald and restore it."

"And I'll come with you." Tikal added. Knuckles turned and looked at her.

"Are you sure?"

"The Master Emerald has a special place in my heart. I want to help restore it." Knuckles was touched by this display.

"Ok, we'll see you later." Sonic called out. The Tornado 2 then took off and flew off towards Tails' workshop.

"How are we going to get off this island?" Tikal asked.

"Simple, we climb to the top of the highest mountain on the Island and glide off." Knuckles replied.

"But, I can't glide."

"Don't worry, I'll carry you across. If necessary, we can swin."

"Erm, ok. I can swim pretty well." Knuckles grabbed Tikal by the arm and took her to the top of the mountains. Once they were there, Tikal climbed onto Knuckles' back.

"Are you on?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm ready." Tikal replied.

"Ok, hold on tight!" Knuckles leapt into the air and began gliding towards an area where he knew there was land.

* * *

Sonic and Tails were back at Tails' workshop. Tails was at a computer trying to locate the remaining Chaod Emeralds. Amy was sitting with them. She was looking through a fashion magazine in the corner. Sonic was sitting opposite her looking out the window. Birds were flying around outside, completely unaware of what had just happened. The Chaos Emerald that Tikal had given them was plugged into Tails' computer. Sweat was running down the back of Tails' neck. He was getting desprate, he needed to find Eggman and stop him before anything happened. Suddenly, the computer showed a blip on his radar. The ping of the radar made everyone in the room jump.

"Tails, what is it?" Sonic asked.

"I've found the other Chaos Emeralds!" Tails replied.

"Great, where aere they?"

"In the middle of the ocean according to radar."

"How are we going to get there?"Amy asked.

"I built a submarine that we can use."

"Cool. How big is it? Does it have a bathroom? Does it have separate rooms?"

"AMY!"

"Am I asking too many questions?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry"

"Where abouts in the ocean are the Emeralds?" Sonic asked.

"About 20 miles East of Angel Island." Tails replied.

"Eggman must have an underwater base there."

"I suppose he's trying to expose your hate of water." Amy suggested.

"Well, it won't work now we have the Tsunami!"

"Come on guys, let's go!" Tails exclaaimed.

"Hang onn, where is the Tsunami?" Amy asked.

"In the lower half of the warehouse." With that, Everyone went down to the lower half of the workshop to where the Tsunami was waiting.

* * *

Knuckles and Tikal had arrived in the Metropolis zone of Mobius. The city was particularly busy, the citizens unaware of what had happened. Knuckles and Tikal were in the centre of the city. Tikal looked around in awe at all the buildings around her. There were many skyscrapers around her, as well as many citizens. A lot of citizens were walking around but there were several vehicles on the road as well. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. She just stared around at the city awestruck.

"Enjoying the sights?" Knuckles asked. Tikal snapped out of her trance and looked at him.

"Sorry, it's not like anything I'm used to." Tikal replied.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"I'm sure I will." Knuckles began walking down the sidewalk.

"Come on, we have some fragments to find." Tikal walked up to Knuckles and stayed close to him. As they were walking along, they were stopped by a Dog. The dog looked rough (or sould that be ruff, lol) and physically strong.

"Hey Knuckles, what brings you here?" The dog asked.

"If you don't mind, I'm looking for something valuable." Knuckles replied. The dog then noticed Tikal and eyed her.

"Who's this?"

"Just a friend."

"Aww, has rough boy Knuckles got himself a girlfriend?" The Dog started laughing as he said this. Knuckles blushed and then got extremely angry.

"WHAT! I dare you to say that again!"

"Aww, has rough boy Knuckles got himself a girlfriend?" Knuckles lost his temper and threw a punch to the dog''s face.

"HEY! Nobody gives me a sucker punch!" The dog shouted. He threw a punch right at Knuckles' face. Knuckles placed his hand to his face. He looked at it and saw blood on it. His lip had been cut by the blow.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Knuckles shouted. He punched the dog even harder in the face. The dog was abouut to punch back but Tikal interviened.

"Guys, fighting won't solve anything." Tikal said calmly.

"What do you know?" The dog asked.

"Enough to know that you were rather rude back then. You both owe each other an apology."

"Why should I apologise?" Knuckles asked. He was stilll very angry but Tikal replied calmly.

"You need to apologise for reacting in the way you did."

"And why should I apologise?" The Dog asked.

"For being rude back then." Tikal grabbed the Dog's hand and Knuckles' hand and pulled them closer.

"Now shake and make up." Tikal instructed. Knuckles and the dog both growled at each other before finally shaking hands.

"I'm…sorry for hurting you." Knuckles finally said.

"And…I'm…sorry for being rude." The Dog replied.

"Good, now we can continue our search." Tikal said in relief. They were about to walk away but the dog called out to them.

"Excuse me Miss." The dog called. Tikal turned around and looked at him.

"What is it?" Tikal asked.

"To show you I'm sorry, I'd like you to have this." The dog handed Tikal a green crystal.

"A fragment of the Master Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Why thank you." Tikal replied. With the firstt fragment in hand, they continued their search for the remaining fragments.

* * *

Eggman was hiding in an underwater base with the Emeralds he had stolen. They were stored in a black box which he had on his lap. He was sitting in the control room of the base. The walls were covered in computer screens, buttons and levers. Some of the computer screens showed water pressure, some showed security cameras inside the base and others showed an outside view of the base. What wall was visible in the room was painted red and black withh Eggman's logo on the wall. Eggman was laughing his head off over his recent triumph.

"Ho-ho-ho-ho! That was so easy. I have the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald is destroyed." Eggman said to himself. He heard the door to the quarters open. It was Metal Sonic. He came into the room and stood next to Eggman.

"You seem happy." Metal Sonic complimented.

"That's because I'm one step closer to taking over this world." Eggman replied.

"I see, what is in the box?"

"Why, the Chaos Emeralds of course."

"Nice. Your dream will come true soon enough."

"And I'm glad that you are back on my side now."

"Yes, I apologise for doing that. I disobeyed your orders out of the need to defeat Sonic."

"Apology accepted Metal Sonic, just don't let it happen again."

"It won't."

"Good, now how about we have a peek at our Emeralds." Eggman pened the box and looked at the Emeralds. Metal Sonic peered into the box.

"I don't mean to be rude sir, but there is one missing." Metal Sonic said.

"There is? Which one?" Eggman asked.

"The Green Emerald." Eggman dug through the box and saw that it was missing.

"ARRGH! I need to find that last Emerald."

"It's safe to assume that Sonic has it."

"If that's the case, we'll let him bring it to me." With that, Eggman let out an evil laugh.

(A/N: Again, I am extremely sorry for such a long delay. Hopefully that won't happen again as my top prority projects are finished. If you're wondering what caused Metal Sonic's change of heart, you'll find out later on in the story. Please read and review for now.)


	5. The missing fragments

REVIEW RESPONSE

PurpleCobra247: Glad you liked that little quarrel. The main purpose was to give Knuckles and Tikal their first Master Emerald fragment, as well as to be humerous. I'm glad you liked the chapter. Knowing people like my stories gives me encouragement to keep writing. Hopefully, there won't be any nore delays in writing up this story.

Burner the Echidna: Yeah, long chapters can be tiring. I'll look out for your Phantom Shadow fic when it's up. Glad you like this.

Nightw2: Hopefully, this will be the next story I finish. Then I'll work on something else. Glad you liked the exchanges. I hope the story gets exciting near the end. It should do regarding what I have planned.

Kittyness: I'm just curious, but what makes you say that Tikal is Knuckle's ancestor? I know that she belonged to the tribe that Knuckles is descended from, but that does not mean that they are directly related. Thanks for the review anyway. You made an interesting point. There's a FanFiction in there somewhere…

Whinnie: Regarding Sonally or Sonamy, I'm happy with either, but I suppose it's only a matter of opinion. At a pinch, I'd rather write Sonamy but I wanted to be a bit different from what I'd normally do. Sorry if I offended you by including Sally. This is a Knux/Tikal story so there won't be any Sonic romance for the rest of the story. Anyway, thanks for your review. I accept Sally because she was Sonic's first love and I accept Amy because it's quite obvious that Sonic likes her at times.

Treasurehunter: Thanks for the encouragement. I'll do the best I can.

acosta pérez josé ramiro: I understand why you didn't know much about Tikal and I don't see her much in Sonic Fanfics. She hasn't appeared very much. Glad you liked my little background story of her. I agree that her and Knuckles make a good couple. I also agree with you about Soinc having a simple weakness. That's partly why I came up with the Tsunami submarine, to combat that weakness.

**The missing fragments**

The search for the Master Emerald fragments had led Knuckles and Tikal to the central park of the city. The park was a large park with beautiful gardens. There were paths that led thorugh fields of flowers There were wooden archways at the entrance to each minature garden. The main grass of the Park also had a couple of trees growing. The trees were surrounded by wooden frames. There was also a small pond in the centre of the park. The pond was full of lillies and other aquatic plants. There was also some aquatic life in the pond. It was midday and the sun was shining over the whole park. The whole sight took Tikal's breath away. Everywhere she had gone since returning to Knuckles had revealed a new beauty. She had never realised how pretty the world was until now. She seemed to faze out of reality. She became unaware of her surroundings as she walked along the path. She did not notice Knuckles take a right turn at a fork in the path and went to the left. She carried on walking along the pathway, still unaware that she had been seperated from Knuckles. She snapped out of her little trance when she bumped into a green crocodile. The crocodile was carrying a personnal stereo with headphones and wore a golden chain. The crocodile turned to Tikal and glared harshly at her.

"Look miss, watch where you're going will ya'?" The crocodile snapped. Tikal flinched and backed off.

"Uh, sorry." Tikal replied sheepishly. She looked around and then realised that she had been seperated from Knuckles. She looked around in a semi-panic state, a behaviour that the crocodile noticed.

"Miss, is something wrong?" Tikal looked back at the crocodile.

"I think I've been seperated from my…friend."

"And, who is your friend?"

"Knuckles."

"You're friends with THAT guy?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Uhh, nothing I guess. Anyway, do you need help in finding him?"

"Well, help would be appreciated. I don't know this park."

"Well, you're talking to the right guy! Vector the crocodile, head of the Chaotix detective agencey." As he said this, a Purple chameleon and a bee with a pilot helmet appeared beside Vector.

"Names' Espio. Expert ninja and stealth operative." The chameleon introduced himself.

"I'm Charmy. I can…uh…um…give enemies a nasty sting." The bee introduced. Tikal giggled slightly at Charmy's introduction and then introduced herself.

"Pleasure to meet you all. I'm Tikal."

"What do you need Tikal?" Espio asked.

"I've been seperated from Knuckles. I need to find him." Charmy went wide eyed as soon as Tikal mentioned 'Knuckles'.

"Are you his girlfriend or something?" Charmy asked. Tikal blushed and became very shy. She did not have any idea of how to reply as she was unsure what Charmy meant. After all, she had never been in love before, but she had noticed she had some feeling towards Knuckles every so often, in particular, when Knuckles had brought her that food before they were attacked. She remained silent and backed away slowly. Vector gave Charmy a sharp slap to the head. He then grabbed Charmy by the head and lifted him to his face.

"Charmy! Be nice to potential clients!" Vector snapped.

"Erm, sorry boss." Vector then looked back at Tikal. She had stopped blushing but was still shy about what Charmy had said.

"Miss, we'll help you find Knuckles, or my name isn't Vector!" Tikal looked at Vector and smiled. She then gave a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you. I was worried that no one would help me." Tikal replied. Vector turned to Espio and Charmy.

"Guys, I'll take Tikal with me. We'll all split up and search this whole park until we find Knuckles." Vector instructed.

"Roger." Espio replied. He sped off to the left.

"OK!" Charmy shouted. He flew off to the right.

"And we'll retrace your steps." Vector said to Tikal. The two began retracing their steps to find Knuckles.

* * *

Knuckles was in another part of the park. He was walking through a small garden looking around all the time. There were several varieties of plants in the garden and several insects. He could smell the fragments coming from the flowers. It was a fragrance unlike anything he'd ssmelt before. Living a life of solitude for so long had meant he'd only learnt a few select fragrances. He continued walking around the garden until he saw a upturned pile of earth on the path. Knuckles then had a look at the fragment that the dog had given Tikal. It was glowing brightly.

"There must be another fragment nearby." Knuckles thought to himself. He went to the pile of upturned earth and started digging. The ground wasn't very strong and he didn't need the shovel claw to dig through. A fragment of the Master Emerald was buried just below the surface. He picked up the fragment and smiled to himself.

"There's no telling how many fragments are left, we'll have to keep searching." Knuckles said aloud. He then looked around and realised that Tikal was nowhere to be seen.

"Great, where is she?" Knuckles was in two minds. His usual thinking patterns told him to ignore her and continue searching. After all, he'd lived alone for pretty much his whole life and would be happy to keep it that way. However, another feeling told hom to find her. It was a feeling he'd never come across before, but it was as powerful as his normal thinking pattern. For reasons unknown to even himself, he felt very concerned for Tikal's safety. She had no knowledge of the planet and was vulnerable. After all, she wasn't very strong physically and cared for everybody. Knuckles was worried that this nature might lead her to danger. Some of the citizens were very hostile, this he knew from Dr. Eggman and occasional trips when the Master Emerald had been shattered before. After a few minutes thinking, he;d made up his mind.

"I'd better find her before she runs into trouble." Knuckles turned around ad began searching the park for Tikal.

* * *

Knuckles had walked out of the small garden and found himself in a different garden. There were different flowers in this garden, each with a different smell. Knuckles quickly glanced around the garden and saw no sign of Tikal.

"I'd better make sure that she isn't deeper in the garden." Knuckles said to himself. He walked further into the garden but still saw no sign of her. He did see someone else he recognised walking around the garden. The figure was Rouge the bat, wearing her normal attire. Rouge glanced over at Knuckles and smiled.

"Hey there big boy." Rouge greeted. Knuckles just looked at her.

"What are you doing out in the middle of the day?" Knuckles asked.

"Treasure hunting."

"Figures."

"And what are you doing?"

"Eggman's up to no good again, he shattered the Master Emerald."

"Again? You really need better security on that island."

"It's a solo job!" Knuckles was thinking of Tikal when he shouted this.

"Whatever." Knuckles then noticed that the fragments of the Master Emerald he had wereglowing.

"Have you found any fragments?"

"I might have."

"If you have any, hand em' over!"

"You never change, lighten up." Rouge tried being seductive, but Knuckles was not impressed.

"Do I have to pound you?"

"Just try it!" Neither of them noticed Charmy flying around at high speeds. He wasn't looking where he was going and bumped into Rouge. The impact caused five green shards to fly out of her clotthing. Knuckles grabbed all of them in a snap.

"So you DID have some! Do you have any others?" Knuckles asked. Rouge wasn't listening. She had her back turned and was shouting at Charmy.

"Why don't you just look where you're going you little brat!" Rouge shouted.

"I am in a hurry trying to find someone." Charmy snapped.

"Well, who are you looking for?" Charmy looked behind Rouge and saw Knuckles standing behind Rouge, fusing all the fragments that had been found so far together. Surprisingly, the fragments were quite large and the emerald was half finished.

"I'm looking for you." Charly flew over to Knuckles and stopped right in front of him.

"Why are you looking for me?" Knuckles asked.

"A job from some girl who looks like you." Knuckles looked harshly at Charmy.

"Tikal! Where is she?"

"I think she's with Vector."

"Well, take me to them!"

"Ok, follow me!" Charmy flew off to find Vector and Charmy, with Knuckles following. Rouge was left rubbing her back and feeling miserable.

"Darn bee, now I have nothing." Rouge moaned.

* * *

Tikal was walking around in the centre of the park. She was accompanied by Vector. The two of them were near the pond. The pond was surrounded by several benches, none of which were occupied. Vector looked around the area and saw no sign of Knuckles.

"Well, he obviously isn't around here. Wonder if the others have had any luck." Vector said to himself. Tikal wasn't listening, she was looking in the pond. She admired the aquatic life swimming around the pond. There were fish, frogs and newts. She also saw a couple of dragonflies around the taller aquatic plants. She then noticed a green sparkle in the pond. She had a closer look and saw what looked like a green shard.

"Part of the Master Emerald." Tikal muttered. She reached for it but the shard was just out of reach. She contemplated the idea of jumping into the pond but decided against it to avoid getting an uncomfortable reputation. She then turned to Vector and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What is it?" Vector asked. Tikal pointed to thee shard ni the water.

"Could you pick up that shard for me?" Tikal asked.

"I'm not sure why, but ok." Vector reached into the pond and grabbed the shard. As he grabbed the shard, Charmy flew past shouting his head off.

"I found him! I found him!" Charmy's shouting startled Tikal. She jumped back and hit Vector by mistake. The impact caused Vector to lose his balance and he fell into the pond. He surfaced with a very angry look. He glared harshly at Charmy. Charmy just looked at Vector with a puzzled lopok on his face.

"Vector, why are you swimming in the pond?" Charmy asked. Vector stood up and grabbed Charmy by the neck.

"How about YOU take a dip!" Vector shouted. He forced Charmy underwater for a few minutes before pulling him out. Tikal looked at where Charmy had come from and saw Knuckles standing there. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Tikal looked at Knuckles and felt something in her heart. She was relieved that he was ok but at the same time angry about the fact that they had been seperated. Knuckles had a similar feeling. He also felt an urge to run up to Tikal and hug her, however the urge was not that strong and easy to surpress. Instead he walked up to her and smiled.

"Are you ok?" Knuckles asked. Tikal felt close to tears but was able to supress them.

"Yes, I'm fine." Tikal replied. Knuckles looked at Vector climbing out of the pond. He was gripping Charmy tightly by the neck in one hand and was holding the green shard that Tikal had seen in the other. Knuckles saw the shard and gasped.

"That's a fragment of the Master Emerald." Knuckles exclaimed. Vector handed the fragment to Tikal.

"Here ya'' go miss." Vector said.

"Thank you, and thanks for your help." Tikal replied.

"Vector, how much are we…" Charmy began but Vector cut him off.

"Just this once, and because your such a cutie, you don't owe us a cent. Treat it as a gift from the Chaotix detectives." Tikal smiled. She was blushing slightly about Vector's comment.

"That's so generous." Tikal replied. Knuckles was watching with a smile on his face.

"Vector is certinly right about that." Knuckles thought to himself. He then realised what was going through his mind." What am I thinking." Knuckles said aloud. Tikal turned to him.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked. Knuckles snapped back to normal and looked at her.

"I'm fine Now we need to find the remaining fragments."

"Do you think they will be anymore in the park?"

"I doubt it, the fragments aren't responding." In his mind, Knuckles was in turmoil. Questions were passing through his mind about what he thought of Tikal. He was unsure of what it all meant, but he knew that there was something wrong. He was unsure of what though.

(A/N: Ok, I tried to add a little humor to this chapter. Pleast tell me how I did. Hope you're all enjoying this. Please R&R)


	6. Feelings realised

REVIEW RESPONSE

PurpleCobra247: I have to admit, I laughed myself when that idea popped into my head. I'm glad you liked it, I loved writing that down. I may add more humor if I get chance.

Nightw2: Glad you're enjoying the story. It was actually hard to think of ideas for this chapter. That's why I got that other story up.

acosta pérez josé ramiro: The Chaotix Detective agencey are from the Sonic games, so I don't own them. You're right, they are Chaotic. They first appeared in a game called 'Sonic Chaotix'. Espio actually proved quite difficult for the little spiked hero because of his ninja training and a camouflague trick where he turns completely invisible (What would you expect from a chameleon?). I liked how you compared Rouge to Catwoman and I agree completely. You also have an interesting point about the Bat/Echidna cross-breed creature.

Gamefreak: Thanks for your review. Looks like this story has another fan. Don't worry about the logging in thing, I'm like that sometimes.

Treasurehunter: I'm updating as quickly as inspiration allows. Thanks for the review.

Burner the Echidna: And hopefully, this chapter will be better than the last. It will be more romantic than the previous ones, which you may guess from the title.

There won't be much action in this chapter, but the romance will be built on.

**Feelings realised**

Knuckles and Tikal found themselves in a forest on the edge of the city. The forest was just a short distance away from Tails' workshop. The forest was thick with trees which blocked almost all sunlight. The forest floor was dark but not dark enough to obscure vision. Although there was little light, thhere were plenty of flowers around. As they were walking, Tikal's mind went wandering again. She was thinking about what Charmy had said. It had stuck in her mind ever since they had left the park. While it was true that Tikal had feelings for Knuckles, she was still unsure of what these feelings were. She was also unsure if Knuckles felt the same. If he did, he obviously didn't show it. She did recognize the feeling as to simething similar to a feeling she shared with her grand mother. The main difference was that the feeling that she had towards Knuckles was more powerful. Before she could think of this subject any more, Knuckles spoke.

"Tikal, what are you like alone in dark areas like this?" Knuckles asked. Tikal snapped out of her little trance and looked at him.

"I'm more nervous about being on my own to be honest. I don't know this forest." Tikal replied.

"Hmm, the problem is that we may need to split up to find any fragments around here."

"How many do you think there are?" Knuckles had a look at the fragments he had fused together. After a few minutes concentrating on the glow, he came up with an answer.

"I'd estimate that there are about 7 fragments in this forest." Tikal had a quick look around the area she was in.

"I'd rather not go alone in a place like this." Knuckles was quite understanding about Tikal's decision but it left him in a bit of a pickle. He wanted to split up but Tikal didn't want to go alone. While he was trying to think of a solution, he heard some humming from the distance. The humming sounded like that of a young girl.

"Who's there?" Knuckles asked. His voice was strong and frightening, giving Tikal a shock. He looked around harshly and saw a rabbit ear from behind a tree. The ear was orange in colour with some slightly darker spots. Tikal onticed the ear and got slightly nervous. She was unsure of what it was, although Knuckles now knew who was there.

"You don't have to worry Cream." Knuckles called out. Cream nervously looked out from behind the tree. She had been scared by Knuckles' shouting. Picking up courage, she came out from behind the tree, followed by her chao Cheese and Chocola. Tikal immediately recognised the creatures with her.

"Chao!" Tikal exclaimed.

"What are you ding here anyway?" Knuckles asked.

"I was looking for some flowers for my mother when I saw what looked like a meteor shower. I came here to investigate." Cream replied. Knuckles immediately had a thought about the meteor shower.

"Cream, do you have any green shards?"

"Yes I do. I found one somewhere in the forest. I picked it up because it looked pretty." Cream took out the green shard and showed Knuckles. It was a fragment of the Master Emerald.

"Cream, I need that shard. It's a fragment of the Master Emerald." Cream had another look at the shard before giving it to Knuckles.

"Here you go."

"Thanks. Have you seen any others?"

"I've seen a few. Most of them I couldn't reach." Knuckles had a think and then had an idea.

"Tikal, would you object going off with Cream?" Knuckles asked. Tikal had a think about this. After a coule of minutes, she made up her mind.

"Sure, I'll go with this young girl." Tikal replied.

"Oh, Cream, this is Tikal. Tikal., this is Cream."

"A pleasure to meet you." Tikal greeted, offering her hand.

"Likewise." Cream replied, accepting her hand.

"Ok, if you two go that way, I'll go this way." Knuckles walked off to the right while Cream and Tikal, accompanied by Cheese and Chocola, went to the left.

* * *

Tikal and Cream were walking in between some trees in the forest. Cream wasn't paying much attention as she was admiring the flowers that were growing. Tikal thoughts turned to Knuckles again. Different thoughts plagued her mind. Some of these thought were regarding Knuckles himself. She found herself thinking that he was quite handsome at uneven instances. She was also thinking about that feeling she had for him. Every time he spoke, Ther heart skipped a beat. The feeling was getting stronger, but she could not identify the feeling. Eventually, she could not stand it anymore. She turned to Cream.

"Cream?" Tikal asked. Cream turned and looked at her.

"What is it Tikal?" Cream asked.

"I need to talk to someone about this. It's been on my mind for a while now."

"What has?"

"Well, I've been having a feeling towards Knuckles."

"What kind of feeling?"

"It's some kind of attraction to him. I can't say what it is, but I see him as more of a friend."

"I know that feeling. It's called love."

"Love?"

"Yes. The feelings that you have are telling you that you're in love with Knuckles."

"I…love him?"

"Amy shows the same feeling towards Sonic all the time, but Sonic constantly rejects her." This brought a strange fear in Tikal's heart.

"Do you think Knuckles would reject me?"

"I don't know. Knuckles is a little unpredictable." Tikal then noticed a green shard in a nearby tree. She examined the shard as best as she could and realised that it was a fragment of the Master Emerald. It was actually quite large for a fragment. It was resting in a birds nest on the end of a branch.

"Cream, there's a fragment." Tikal said.

"Up in that tree?" Cream asked. She looked up and saw the fragment herself. Before she could say anything, Tikal had latched onto the tree and was climbing it as well as she could. She reached the nest with ease but there were baby birds in the nest. Tikal looked around and saw the mother coming back.

"It's ok, I won't hurt you." Tikal said calmly. She reached out and grabbed the fragment. Before she could pull her arm away, the mother landed and started pecking her. Tikal gritted her teeth and calmly pulled her hand away, holding the Master Emerald fragment. She quickly jumped back to the ground. The bird stopped pecking her and returned to the nest. Tikal had a look at her hand. It was cut quite badly but wasn't bleeding. She held it tightly to ease the pani as best as she could.

"Are you ok?" Cream asked.

"I'll be fine." Tikal replied reassuringly.

* * *

Knuckles was walking in a different stretch of the foresttt. He was looking around for any sign of fragments, but at the same time, he was thinking of Tikal. He started to have thoughts that he'd never thought before. For one thing, he began telling himself that she was cute, something he'd never thought before. He suddenly realised what he was thinking and slapped himself in the face.

"Grr, what's wrong with me?" Knuckles tried to put it out of his mind, but it kept coming back. Tikal and the Master Emerald were the only things on his mind. His mind focused primarily on Tikal. He was trying to figure out what all these feelings meant. Then, for some odd reason, he began thinking about Amy. She always followed Sonic around and never hid her feelings. These thoughts gave Knuckles an idea about what was wrong.

"Am I…could I be…in love with Tikal?" As soon as he realised this, he stopped. He had never been in love before, even though Rouge was tomboyish towards him. A new question began to boggle his mind, how would his life change if Tikal accepted him? It would go on a direction he'd never gone down before. Before he could think about this anymore, a flash of green light caught his attention. The light was coming from a bush dead ahead of him.

"There must be a fragment of the Master Emerald there." Knuckles ran over to thee bush and had a peek. To his extreme surprise, he found three fragments grouped together in a nest. He was about to reach for them when the owner of the nest came. It was a rare breed of Flicky with an extreme mean streak. It started chirping and growling at Knuckles.

"I only want those fragments.. Knuckles told the Flicky. He tried to reach for them but the Flicky turned very aggressive and bit his hand. Knuckles pulled his hand away and clenched his fists in anger.

"Why you ungrateful bird!" Knuckled threw a punch at the flicky and sent it over the horizon. Knuckles massaged is fist and then collected the fragments.

"Why are these animals so aggressive?" Knuckles asked himself. He ran off into a different part of the forest to look for Tikal.

* * *

Tikal and Cream were in another part of the forest. They had gathered three Master Emerald fragments themselves. Most of the were high in trees so Tikal had to climb them to reach. After claiming the third fragment, Tikal smiled.

"Now, if Knuckles has three, we have all the fragments here." Tikal said.

"Then what will you be doing?" Cream asked. They were walking around the forest looking for Knuckles. Tikal was holding the fragmets that they had found.

"I don't know. It depends on how many fragments are left."

"I see."

"Thank you for your help. I don't know this planet to go on my own."

"What will you say to Knuckles?"

"About what?"

"About how you feel."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I think you two would make a nice couple."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that it would be nice if you admitted your feelings to him."

"You think so?" Before Cream could answer, Knuckles came running into the area. He stopped just a few foot away from Cream. This shocked Cream and she jumped into Knuckles, who was pushed into Tikal. The fragments that they had found were dropped and scattered around the forest floor. Cream looked rather sheepish at the sight.

"Oops, sorry." Cream muttered. Knuckles wanted to shout his head off but refrained from doing so. After all, Cream was still very young.

"Cream, you go home. Thanks for helping but we'll be ok for now." Knuckles instructed.

"Ok." Cream walked off away while Knuckles and Tikal looked at the scattered shards.

"Well, we'd better pick these up." Knuckles muttered. He kneeled down and begn picking up fragments.

"Let me help." Tikal said. She kneeled down and began picking up fragments. After a few seconds, only one fragment was left. They both reached for it at the same time and their hands met. (A/N: hands up who saw that coming, LOL). It took them a couple of minutes for them to realise. They both pulled their hand away and blushed.

"Erm, oops." Tikal muttered. Knuckles picked up the last fragment and stood up. He was still blushing, as was Tikal.

"Are you ok?" Tikal asked nervously. Knuckles slowly looked at her. He was incredibly nervous about the awkward situation that had arrisen.

"Err, yeah…I'm fine." Knuckles replied hesitantly.

"So, what now?"

"Now we head back to the island and restore the Master Emerald." With that, Knuckles and Tikal made the long trek and raft journey back to Angel Island.

* * *

When they returned to Angel Island, they had a quick look around. It was just as they remember it, besides the fact that the Chaos Emeralds were gone and the Master Emerald was shattered. Knuckles and Tikal began runnoing towards the Altar, with the fragments that had found.

"What should we do once the Emerald has been restored?" Tikal asked.

"I say we help take dowm Dr. Eggman. He will pay for what he did." Knuckles replied.

"And after that?"

"That I don't know. I'll probably stay on the island and guard the Master Emerald again." The two had arrived at the site where the Master Emerald stood. Before placing the fragments, Knuckles looked at Tikal.

"You're welcome to stay if you want to." Knuckles offered. Tikal blushed slightly.

"Are you sure?" Tikal asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." With that, Knuckles placed the gathered fragments in the centre of the altar. He then stretched out his hand and focused on the Master Emerald. There was a flash of light and the Master Emerald was restored. They both smiled at the result. Tikal then sighed. In her mind, she decided to take Cream's advice.

"Are you ok?" Knuckles asked. Tikal turned and looked at him.

"Knuckles, there is something I have to say." Tikal replied.

"I'm listening." Tikal began blushing and became very hesitant. She eventually plucked up the courage to say it.

"Knuckles, I don't really know how to say this, but I…have…feelings for you." Tikal was very nervous about how Knuckles was going to reply. Knuckles had figured out what she meant and looked at Tikal wide-eyed. Inside his mind, he was shocked and happy at the same time. He had no idea that Tikal liked him. He eventually smiled with affection.

"Well, I have to admit, Tikal…I…have fellings…for you too." In her mind, Tikal was screaming with Joy. Before she knew it, Knuckles was holding onto her hand and looking at her in the eyes. They came closer together ubt Tikal glanced to the side before they could kiss. She then changed her expression.

"Knuckles."

"Yes Tikal?"

"The Emerald is incomplete." Knuckles qickly looked at the Emerald and saw that Tikal was right. There were four fragments missing.

"Where could those fragments be?" Knuckles asked. The incomplete Master Emerald glowed and showed an image of a base with Dr. Eggman's logo. The image also showed an array of fish swimming around.

"An underwater base. The last few fragments must be there!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"But how do we get there?" Tikal asked.

(A/N: I said that this chapter would be mostly roomantic. At a guess, I'd say that there are about 3 or 4 chapters remaining. But that is only a guess as I'm not sure. For now, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and please leave me a review.)


	7. Underwater base

A/N: Ok, I must apologise profusely for the extreme delay in this story. Truth is, I ran out of ideas for this story. Plus I'm back at college so had less time to think. I'll try not to let it happen again. Anyway, I thank you for your patience and apologise again. Also, sorry about the lack of a review response but new rules aren't letting me. I don't really want my account removed.

**Underwater base**

Knuckles and Tikal were still staring at the incomplete Master Emerald, while holding onto each other's arms. The emerald had just shown them where the last fragments were; an underwater base. Unfortunately they had no idea as to where the base was or how they could get to it. However, they needed to find this base and retrieve the emerald fragments, otherwise Angel Island would never return to the skies. Knuckles let go of Tikal's arms and went over to the emerald. He had to think of a way to locate the base and how to get to it. Otherwise he would be unable to fulfil his duty as defender of the Master Emerald. Tikal had come up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She knew what Knuckles was going through. She felt the same way when she was unable to protect the Chao from the greed of her father. She had felt guilty about the incident ever since, even though it was resolved. She wasn't sure on what to do at this moment, but knew that something had to be done.

"Knuckles…" Tikal began but Knuckles cut her off.

"Tikal, we need to find one of Eggman's robots."

"Why?"

"We're going to follow it and find Eggman's underwater base."

"Isn't that going to be dangerous?"

"It will be dangerous going into Eggman's base, but we have little other choice."

"I suppose, but where could we find…" Tikal's attention was caught by the sound of a motor. Knuckles also heard it. They looked around quickly and saw what looked like the top of a submarine in the water passing the island. The design and colourings were undistinguishable but it seemed to be heading west. Knuckles immediately thought that it was one of Eggman's creations, not knowing that it was actually the Tsunami, heading out towards Eggman's underwater base. This immediately gave Knuckles an idea.

"Tikal, climb onto my back." Tikal did what she was instructed to and held on tight.

"What are you doing though?" Tikal asked.

"I've just seen one of Eggman's submarines. We're going to hijack it and go to the hideout like that." Knuckles jumped as high as he could and glid over to the submarine, with Tikal hanging onto him tightly. They were able to successfully land on the submarine safely, although the area they landed on was relatively small. Tikal used her hand to rub some sweat off her forehead. This was one of the most daring things she had ever done, and all to recover the master emerald. To Knuckles, this was relatively normal, apart from Tikal being around. Until now, he had lived alone, so having companionship was new to him. Even so, he found himself very protective of her.

"Tikal, just to warn you, we may have to fight everyone inside here." Knuckles said.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be ok." Tikal said reassuringly. Knuckles nodded and forced the submarine's hatch open.

* * *

Sonic, Tails and Amy were all inside the Tsunami. They were all aware that they were being boarded and were looking at the entrance ladder. Amy had drawn her hammer, ready to give the intruder a severe pounding as soon as he or she arrived. Tails had turned the engines off and had locked the control panel, meaning that if they were forced out, the Tsunami would be useless. Sonic had gotten into a fighting pose. He would force whoever it was out of the sub by any means necessary.

"Ok, whoever you are, prepare for a butt kicking as soon as you come down." Sonic called out.

"Nobody intrudes on us and gets away with it." Amy added.

"I don't like the way you put that Amy." Amy just smirked and tightened her grip on her hammer. There was a moment's silence where nothing happened. Eventually though, Knuckled jumped down from the ladder, ready to fight. As soon as he landed, he saw who was in there and calmed down.

"Oh, hi guys." Knuckles greeted.

"What are you doing knuckle-head?" Sonic asked.

"Knuckles?" Tails asked.

"Were you guys going to Eggman's underwater base?" Knuckles asked.

"Err, yeah." Amy replied.

"Well we're coming with you!"

"We? Who's with you?"

"I am." Tikal said, as she jumped down from the ladder. She had been hanging on and listening. She had realised whop was in the submarine and had sighed in relief. She didn't really want to fight but knew that she would if she had to.

"Tikal?" Tails asked.

"What are you doing here?" Amy asked.

"Long story." Tikal replied.

"But why do you guys need to get to Eggman's base?" Sonic asked.

"Because that's where the last pieces of the Master Emerald are." Knuckles replied.

"I wonder how they got there." Tails said to himself.

"Ok, we'll take you guys along. When we get there, you guys find those emerald fragments." Sonic said.

"What about you?" Tikal asked.

"We're going to find that Eggman. He has all the Chaos Emeralds. We have to get them back so he doesn't use them."

"But the chances are that the base will be defended from the outside. Prepare for a heavy amount of turbulence." Tails added.

"Guys, you don't need to worry about me so much." Tikal replied.

"We're worried because you're relatively new." Amy said.

"Well thank you for your concern."

"Come on, let's go kick some egg butt!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Ok Sonic." Tails replied, restarting the engines. The group then proceeded towards Eggman's underwater base in the Tsunami. Sonic, Tails and Amy had to find Eggman and recover the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles and Tikal had to locate the final fragments of the Master Emerald so they could restore it. Nobody knew what was waiting for them at the underwater base. After a few minutes, the Tsunami finally arrived at the underwater base. Much to Tails' surprise, it was almost undefended. The outside had no defence turrets of any description and there were no robot guards outside. Either Eggman didn't think an underwater base would need defences or he wanted them to come. There wasn't any time to be thinking about that now, as heaven knows what Eggman might have created with the Chaos Emeralds. Tails docked the Tsunami in the base's submarine hangar, which had been left wide open. When the Tsunami was successfully docked, everybody climbed out and surveyed their surroundings. There were a couple of other submarines in the docking area, both of which were of a typical Eggman design. They were shaped like torpedoes and had numerous gun turrets and missile launchers. The Eggman Logo was also painted on the side of the Submarines. The docking area was also of a typical Eggman design. His logo was absolutely everywhere. At the far end were two very large doors, one on each side of the room.

"Ok guys, we'll take the right hand door and find Eggman." Tails instructed.

"So we'll take the left hand door." Tikal added.

"We need to find the Master Emerald Fragments. There's only three left." Knuckles said.

"If we see any, we'll grab them and give them to you later." Amy added.

"Return to the Tsunami as soon as you're done." Tails said.

"Ok team, let's move out!" Sonic instructed. The group divided into their two parties and began searching the base. Each team had a mission to accomplish, and they had to do it quickly.

* * *

Knuckles and Tikal's search for the last remaining fragments of the Master Emerald led them to the storage area within the base. They had had very little trouble in reaching the area, as there were hardly any robots. Knuckles kept his guard up all the time, thinking that this was highly unusual for Eggman. The storage room they were in was full of metal crates, all stamped with Eggman's logo. Other than that, there was very little else in the room, other than a couple of small doors on either side of the room. Knuckles and Tikal looked around the room for quite a few minutes while they were inside. Knuckles was sensing energy from the Master Emerald, meaning that there was a fragment nearby. He approached the boxes and examined each one, trying to find where the energy was strongest. He eventually came across a large crate near the back of the room. Curious as to what was happening, Tikal came over to the crate. She then began to feel the energy from the Master Emerald from within the crate as well.

"A fragment must be within this crate." Tikal reasoned.

"You can feel the energy?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes, but not as well as you can."

"Well, we've got to get those emeralds."

"How?" Knuckles motioned Tikal to stand back and then threw a lightning fast punch at the crate. He then began swinging numerous punches at the crate. Eventually, the crate shattered into small fragments and collapsed. Knuckles began sifting through the wreckage and eventually found what he was looking for. The last three fragments were together, as if someone had already found them and put them there. Knuckles picked them up but before anyone could do anything else, an alarm sounded. The room began flashing red and the main entrance to the room locked.

"Intruder in storage room beta. Robot countermeasures deployed." A computer voice in the room stated. The two small doors in the room opened and battle robots began entering the room. They were the same type of battle robots that had overwhelmed Knuckles back on the island before Eggman made off with the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles immediately began leaping at the robots and attacking them with all his strength. A single punch to the top half of the robot was enough to deactivate them. Unfortunately, as was the case before, there were too many and Knuckles began to get tired. Tikal found herself unable to keep out of the fight for any longer. Without thinking, she lunged into the fray and began fighting alongside Knuckles. Knuckles was amazed by this sudden behaviour but decided not to argue. Tikal turned out to have just as strong a punch as Knuckles. She was also lighter on her feet and could dodge a little better, but Knuckles could tell that she was frail and could be hurt much more easily than he could. But with Tikal in the fight, the masses of robots were soon defeated. Both echidnas were worn out from their battle. Knuckles was able to look at Tikal with a look of amazement.

"Tikal, why did you do that?"

"Knuckles, I can't let you carry the burden of fighting anymore. From now on, we fight together."

"Tikal, if anything happened to you, I would not forgive myself."

"And if anything happened to you Knuckles, I wouldn't forgive myself either." Tikal went over to Knuckles and hugged him. Knuckles was a little hesitant, but he eventually returned the hug. They looked into each other's eyes and were about to kiss when another alert siren sounded.

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct sequence activated. Base will self-destruct in T minus 5 minutes." Knuckles and Tikal looked at each other in shock at what they had just heard.

"Sonic! Why do you go for such overkill?" Knuckles asked in frustration.

"We can find out later. First we need to get out of here!" Tikal snapped. The main door had opened because of the alarm. Making sure to grab the final emerald fragments, the two echidnas fled the room and began running back to the Tsunami as fast as they could.

A/N: Again, so sorry for the delay. I really should have updated sooner but I just ran out of ideas. Don't worry, I know how the next chapter will turn out so hopefully, there won't be such a delay between this and the next. Anyway, please review.


	8. The Final Battle

**The final battle**

Knuckles and Tikal ran as fast as they could through the base when they heard the alert about the self-destruction of the base. It had taken them 10 minutes while walking so they couldn't afford to slow down. Knuckles was much faster than Tikal so he ended up carrying her by piggyback, otherwise she wouldn't make it out alive. Because of the self-destruct, all the machines in the base had shut down, making it an easy run to the dock area. Once they were there, they met up with Sonic, Tails and Amy, who were waiting by the sub. Without any explanations, the crew leapt into the Tsunami and Tails drove it out of the base, and just in time, because as soon as the Tsunami was out, the base exploded. The explosion would create another tidal wave that would strike the mainland but the Tsunami was unaffected. Everyone sat down in relief when they were clear of the base, but Sonic was clearly disturbed about something. He was showing a look of anger and depression. Seeing this expression, Tikal grew a little nervous, as it telegraphed that something bad had happened.

"Did you guys find the Master Emerald fragments?" Tails asked.

"We've got them. We're fine now." Knuckles replied.

"Sonic, are you ok?" Tikal asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Sonic replied.

"Fine? Eggman got away with the chaos emeralds!" Amy exclaimed.

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"I said Eggman got away with the Chaos Emeralds."

"How could you let him get away with the Emeralds?"

"Because we were too late." Tails replied.

"What actually happened?" Tikal asked.

* * *

_Flashback_

Sonic, Tails and Amy had found their way into a very tall circular room. The walls were painted red and grey, with Eggman's logo painted everywhere. There was a large circular dish in the centre of the floor. It had a line straight down the middle, where it looked like it would split in half and open. Amy had her hammer in her hand, ready for anything. Sonic was also preparing for anything that could happen. Tails was looking around the room. By the design, he could tell that it was a launching tube of some sort. This meant that Eggman could launch something from this tube at any time.

"Ok Eggman, come out wherever you are." Sonic called out.

"Sonic, we need to find the control room. That's where he would be." Tails said.

"But where could it be?" Amy asked.

"Knowing a base like this, I'd say the top of the base."

"But what is this room?"

"I think it's some kind of area where Eggman could launch some missiles or weapons of some sort."

"Then perhaps we should destroy it." Sonic suggested.

"I cannot allow you to do that." A booming voice bellowed. The floor then opened and a huge, mechanical human-like machine emerged. It was designed to look like Eggman, even complete with the moustache. It looked like a machine that he had made before, when Sonic had battled him on the Death Egg several years ago, except that it was much bigger. Sonic, Tails and Amy were looking at the machine with a look of horror. Sonic was reminded of the machine he destroyed on the Death Egg. Eggman's voice was then heard from the machine.

"Well, well, well. You found a way to get to me did you?" Eggman asked evilly.

"Ok Eggman, time to be cracked!" Sonic scolded.

"I wouldn't try it. All 7 chaos emeralds power this machine. You cannot destroy it, even if you tried."

"You're powering that with the chaos emeralds?" Tails asked.

"Exactly! Now I can create the Eggman Empire easily. Sadly, you will not be around to witness my triumph." With that, rocket launchers from the feet of the machine and it blasted away from the platform. When the roof opened, water began flooding in, forcing Sonic, Tails and Amy to run from the room. When they were out, Sonic turned to the closed door and began cursing.

"Eggman, I'll get you for this!" Sonic shouted.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked. Before anyone could answer, there was a voice coming from the bases' computer.

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct sequence activated. Base will self-destruct in T minus 5 minutes."

"Eggman's activated the Self-destruct!" Tails exclaimed.

"We've got to get out of here!" Amy added.

"Hold on!" Sonic shouted. He grabbed Tails and Amy's arms and ran as fast as he could towards the Tsunami.

_End Flashback_

* * *

"Eggman's using the power of the chaos emeralds again?" Knuckles asked.

""Yes. I don't think there's anything we can do." Tails replied.

"Not true. Now that we can complete the Master Emerald, we can stop him." Tikal said.

"Of course, the Master Emerald can drain the power from the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles added.

"But what will we do then?" Amy asked.

"The emeralds will only be deactivated for a brief moment. As soon as they've been deactivated, someone will need to get inside the machine and steal them."

"You can do that easily." Sonic said.

"But who will use the Master Emerald to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails asked.

"I will." Tikal replied.

"You can do that?" Amy asked.

"I've used it before."

"Then what?" Tails asked.

"If Knuckles can get the Emeralds to me, I can use them against Eggman." Sonic replied.

"Sonic, no!" Amy moaned.

"It's our only option."

"Oh, ok." Amy didn't like it when Sonic turned into Super Sonic, but there were times that he may have to.

"Ok, now we need to get to Angel Island." Knuckles said.

"I'm on it." Tails replied.

* * *

After a few minutes, the Tsunami arrived at the Angel Island, which had been unaffected by the tidal wave caused by the explosion of the base. Tails was able to convert the Tsunami into a semi-glider so it could land on the Island. When they landed on the island, everyone quickly climbed out of the Tsunami. Knuckles and Tikal immediately ran over to the Master Emerald with the last few fragments. The fragments were placed near the Master Emerald. The emerald glowed and attracted the fragments. The Master Emerald had now been fully restored. Reacting to the Master Emerald's power, Angel Island began to levitate once more. Knuckles and Tikal both smiled with satisfaction, even thought hey knew it wasn't over. They still had to track down Eggman and recover the Chaos Emeralds.

"Ok, the Island has been restored." Knuckles said.

"We still need to track down Eggman." Sonic added.

"No need guys, look!" Amy exclaimed. Eggman had found them. The machine he had left him was rapidly approaching the Island. It landed on the island and Eggman's voice was heard from the machine.

"So, you survived that explosion." Eggman scolded.

"Wasn't hard." Sonic scoffed.

"Of well, looks like I'll have to kill you all now." The fist of the machine came smashing down towards the Island. Sonic was only just able to evade it. He began running around the island at top speed to keep Eggman's attention away from Tikal, who was at the Master Emerald.

"Sonic, I will kill you now!" Eggman scolded. He had no idea of what Tikal was doing at the Master Emerald. He continually tried to hit Sonic, but was having no success. Knuckles had climbed on one of the pillars around the altar, ready to jump towards the machine once the Emeralds were deactivated. Tikal was now invoking the Master Emerald's power.

"The servers are the 7 chaos. Chaos is power…enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos!" As soon as Tikal finished the line, the Master Emerald began spinning rapidly. It was only then when Eggman realised what Tikal was doing.

"Stop!" Eggman shouted. He prepared to fire a Chaos laser at the Master Emerald, but he wasn't quick enough.

"Please, stop the Chaos Emeralds!" Tikal shouted. The Master Emerald glowed green and released a flash of white light. At that moment, the Chaos Emerald's lost their power and Eggman's machine deactivated.

"Knuckles now!" Tails shouted. Knuckles leapt at the centre of the machine and broke his way inside. Within a few seconds, he had retrieved the Chaos Emeralds and emerged from the machine.

"It's over Eggman." Knuckles gloated.

"Not quite, you annoying pigs. The machine still has some of the Emeralds power." Eggman replied. The machine started up again and reactivated. It was running on power that had been copied from the Chaos Emeralds. The machine was just as powerful but now unable to fire the Chaos laser.

"Sonic, you're up!" Knuckles shouted. He threw the chaos emeralds at Sonic. He immediately caught them and invoked their power. There was a flash of yellow light that blinded everyone briefly. When they regained their sight, they saw that sonic had transformed into Super Sonic. Rather than fleeing, Eggman became even more determined.

"Ok super-freak. You may be super strong now, but I still have another trick of my sleeve." Eggman gloated. One of the machine's arms reached out and touched the Master Emerald. Rather than destroying the emerald, some power was absorbed, supercharging the machine.

"No, what have you done?" Knuckles asked.

"I just burrowed a little power from the Master Emerald. Now I shall destroy you all!"

"I'd like to see you try." Super Sonic gloated.

* * *

Eggman fired a Chaos laser right at Super Sonic. Sonic was able to block the attack without any damage. He then flew at top speed towards Eggman and tried to pummel him. The machine was able to block every single blow that Super Sonic threw. Super Sonic was on the offensive and forcing the machine backwards. Eggman chuckled and the machine began flying. Eggman tried to smash Super Sonic from behind, a blow that Super Sonic evaded easily. Eggman was on the attack this time. However, every blow that he launched was either blocked or evaded. Eggman also tried firing chaos lasers, but these were easily blocked. What Eggman didn't realise was that every time the chaos laser hit Super Sonic, he gained strength rather than got wounded. As a result, Super Sonic was getting even more powerful. Super Sonic realised this but was holding back, ready to unleash a surge of power at a critical point. Back on the Island, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Tikal were watching the battle from a safe distance. Amy was incredibly worried about how Super Sonic would fair. Nobody could tell that Super Sonic had the advantage.

"I hope Sonic's wining." Amy said.

"I'm sure he's fine. We'll just have to wait." Tails replied.

"Is there anyway we could help?" Tikal asked.

"No Tikal, it's up to Sonic now." Knuckles replied. They continued to watch the battle between Eggman and Super Sonic. Eggman had fired a few more chaos lasers, not realising that this was only making Super Sonic stronger.

"Are you ready to give up hedgehog?" Eggman asked.

"Not yet, I'm just getting started." Super Sonic replied. It was at that moment when Super Sonic unleashed the power that he had built up. Super Sonic suddenly went on the offensive, throwing blasts that Eggman couldn't block at all. Every blow that Super sonic landed caused severe damage to the machine. Eggman was eventually forced to eject from the machine and take off in his egg mobile. The main machine was quickly destroyed by Super Sonic's power. Super Sonic then returned to Angel Island and reverted to his normal form. Knuckles had returned the Chaos Emeralds to their places around the Master Emerald. Eggman was completely flabergastered as to how he had been defeated.

"But how? The Master Emerald powered that machine. How could I lose?" Eggman asked in frustration.

"Easy, every time you fired that chaos ray, it made me stronger." Sonic replied. Eggman was stumped at that revelation.

"Curse you Sonic! I will have my revenge." Eggman shouted. He powered up the egg mobile and, as usual, got away, leaving Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Tikal on Angel Island.


	9. Aftermath

**Aftermath**

Soon after Eggman had fled Angel Island, Sonic was standing on the edge of the island. He was looking in the general direction that Eggman had flown off into. Knuckles was standing next to the Master Emerald, with one hand on the gem. It hadn't been easy to restore the Master Emerald but now it was fully restored, as was the Island. The Chaos Emeralds were also surrounding the Master Emerald, as things should be. However things would be different from now on. He would no longer be alone in defending the Master Emerald; he had Tikal with him. He never realised until now that he could get used to another person present all of the time. Tikal was the first of his tribe to reappear after several years. He had given up hope of anybody ever returning to him, which would leave him alone for the rest of his life. He had gotten used to living alone but he would now have to change his ways. Tikal had walked over to him. She was happy to be guarding the Master Emerald with Knuckles. She had already tried to defend the Master Emerald before, but only now knew how much difficulty it could be. She had nearly failed before, and would've if it hadn't been for Chaos. Tikal always remembered that incident, possibly the worst day in her life. Now she would be protecting the Master emerald with Knuckles, the man that she loved.

"Well, everything's back as it should be." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, the Master emerald has been restored." Tikal added.

"As has the island."

"But Eggman got away."

"He always does." Sonic called out.

"Sonic, I sometimes get the feeling that you deliberately let him get away." Knuckles replied at that.

"I hope you didn't." Tails added before heading over to the Tsunami.

"Wouldn't put it past him." Amy added teasingly. Sonic just laughed. In many ways, they were right. He always seemed to let Eggman get away. Truth be told, he enjoyed fighting Eggman, no matter what Eggman was doing. He didn't really take his job of defending the world seriously. He just wanted to have fun. Tails was in the control room of the Tsunami. He was getting the sub ready to glide off the Island and back into the ocean. Tails had opened out some caterpillar tracks so the Tsunami could move over the land. He opened the entrance hatch and looked out at Sonic, Amy, Knuckles and Tikal.

"Guys, the Tsunami's ready to leave." Tails called out. Sonic ran straight over to the Tsunami and leapt inside. Amy was following him at her usual place. She stopped and called out to Tikal.

"What are you going to do Tikal?" Tikal looked at Amy and smiled.

"I'm staying here." Tikal replied.

"But Knuckles is a loner."

"Let's just say we've discovered that we have a lot in common." Knuckles said. Amy immediately figured out what they had meant by that and smiled.

"Well, congratulations." With that, Amy climbed into the Tsunami. Tails just smiled and followed Amy into the Tsunami. Knuckles and Tikal watched as the Tsunami went to the edge of Angel Island. It then dropped off the Island and landed in the Ocean, with no damage. From there, The Tsunami went off and back towards Tails'' workshop. Knuckles and Tikal were left on Angel Island, with the Chaos emeralds and the Master emerald all in their rightful places. They both looked into the sky. A few birds were flying overhead and the sun was setting over the ocean. There were no clouds in the sly at all. It was actually quite a romantic setting. Knuckles and Tikal were standing next to each other, looking at the sunset. Knuckles put a hand on Tikal's shoulder. Tikal looked at him with a smile.

* * *

"Tikal, having another person around on this Island, it's going to take some getting used to." Knuckles said.

"I understand how you feel. You've lived alone all your life until now." Tikal replied.

"Heh, I always wished for my people to return."

"And now I have returned. You finally got your wish."

"It's a strange feeling though."

"Strange?"

"As I said before, I've been alone for such a long time. Now I have some companionship, I'm going to have to get used to it."

"Hey, you will."

"I know." Knuckles held onto Tikal's arms and looked into her eyes. Tikal looked back with the same look Knuckles was giving her; a look of love. They looked into each other's eyes for a couple of minutes.

"Let's do what we were nearly did, twice before." Tikal said sweetly. The two echidnas leant in closer and engaged in their first kiss. They held onto each other and held onto the kiss. It didn't last for very long, only about 30 seconds. When they released, Tikal looked into Knuckles eyes again.

"I love you Knuckles."

"And I love you…Tikal." They looked into each other's eyes and kissed each other again. Knuckles had not only regained a member of his people, he had found true love. This was a new feeling to him, and it would take some getting used to. Tikal was thinking similar lines. She had never been in love until now. She would have to get used to the feeling and help Knuckles with whatever he needed help with. She had already helped him restore the Master emerald and defeat Eggman. She would now be living an entirely different life to what she had done since the Chaos incident. It would take some getting used to but she knew that she would be able to cope.

* * *

That night, Knuckles was sitting on one of the steps in front of the Master emerald, as he normally did. Tikal was fast asleep, resting her head on his lap. He was going to go to sleep soon, but he couldn't bring himself to sleep. So much had happened in one day, and his life had changed direction. He had been waiting for so long for one of his people to return, and now that hope had been granted. He did not know whether any more would return, only time would answer that question. He gave a look down at Tikal. She looked so peaceful and angelic. Knuckles knew that Tikal would help him protect the Master emerald from whatever would harm it. Knuckles looked up into the night sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the sky was full of stars. He idly started counting the stars in the sky out of boredom. He didn't need to worry about the Master emerald tonight, as there was nothing brewing, at least for a while. After counting stars for a few minutes, he began thinking to himself again.

"_I'll probably be on this island for the rest of my life, guarding the Master emerald from whatever can harm it. The first of my people has finally returned to me. Only time will tell me if any others will return. I shall defend this island and the Master emerald for their sake, as well as the world's. I have also found myself caring for someone else deeply. I will try and protect Tikal, the one I love, with all my strength. I probably won't know the full story of her return, but perhaps, it's better that way. We can now live together peacefully._"

After that train of thought, Knuckles gave one final glance at Tikal. She was still fast asleep on his lap. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes, still sitting up, and eventually fell asleep himself. Tikal opened one eye at about this point. She smiled and lifted her head off of Knuckle's lap. She then gently laid him down on the step so he was more comfortable. She then gave him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight my love." Tikal whispered. She laid down on the step just below Knuckles and quickly went back to sleep.

END


End file.
